Without permission : conversations, letters, and memoirs of Henry Mandel / edited by Samuel Flaks.

Brookline, MA : Cherry Orchard Books, an imprint of Academic Studies Press, 2021.

©2021

xxi, 248 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

"A fantastical propaganda play depicting an armed revolt financed the purchase of the yacht Abril and its conversion to an "illegal" immigrant passenger ship renamed the Ben Hecht. The plan was to evade the British naval blockade and bring Holocaust survivor refugees to Palestine. Henry Mandel volunteered aboard the Ben Hecht, a converted yacht that challenged the British blockade of Jewish immigrants to pre-state Israel. Captured and detained in Acre Prison, Mandel aided the efforts of prisoners planning an escape. After release, Mandel helped set up a secret bazooka shell plant in New York, which he helped to reassemble in Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Mandel was an Orthodox Jew whose reminiscences provide a uniquely illuminating perspective on the creation of the Jewish state. Mandel's story is explicated in a running commentary that includes the personal narratives of other members of the Ben Hecht crew as well as historical background"-- Provided by publisher.

Henry Mandel and the Mercy Ship Ben Hecht

Online version: Without permission Boston : Academic Studies Press, 2021

English

April 04, 2022

Includes bibliographical references and index.